Zheng's 69 Leads Duke Sunday at the Rod Myers Invitational

Sunday, September 12

Durham, N.C.

Duke University

Round 3 at Rod Myers Invitational

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Zheng's 69 Leads Duke Sunday at the Rod Myers Invitational

9/12/2021 5:15:00 PM | Men's Golf

FINAL RESULTS PHOTO GALLERY

DURHAM – Sophomore Jimmy Zheng enjoyed a career weekend to lead the Duke men's golf team to a third-place finish at the 11th annual Rod Myers Invitational that concluded Sunday at the Duke University Golf Club.

Zheng was a career-best 9-under 207 (72-66-69) for the tournament and his tied-for-third finish also marked a career best. The native of Auckland, New Zealand, capped the tournament with a 3-under 69 in Sunday's final round which included impressive birdies on the closing two holes to secure the top-three showing.

After entering the day in fourth place, the Blue Devils made a move on Sunday to lock up third place at 8-under 856, which included a 1-under 287 on Sunday. Zheng kicked started his round with a birdie on the tough opening hole – one of just four birdies that hole surrendered all day – and chipped in for birdie on the par-3 4th hole.

"This was my first Rod Myers – the course was in great condition and my game was there this week and I was really happy with that," said Zheng. "I hit a lot of quality shots into the greens and made some putts this week."

North Carolina won the Rod Myers Invitational team title at 27-under par, while the Tar Heels' Ryan Gerard was the individual medalist at 15-under.

NC State (-24) finished second, followed by Duke (-8), UNC Greensboro (-7) and North Florida (-6) in the top five of the strong 14-team field. Zheng's closing two birdies, along with a birdie from freshman Kelly Chinn on the 18th hole, were key to Duke holding off UNCG and UNF for third place.

"We didn't get off the to the hottest of starts in the first round, and certainly some other teams did, so that set us back a little bit," said head coach Jamie Green. "But we made a bit of a run to start this morning's round. We didn't finish particularly well, except for Jimmy, who gutted up and saved a par on 16 when he was next to a tree and birdied his last two. Credit to North Carolina and NC State – they had a battle down the stretch. These are all friends of ours and it's nice to go against quality competition on a great golf course."

Sophomore Ian Siebers also collected a top-10 finish as he carded an even-par 72 on Sunday on his way to a 4-under 212 (71-69-72) for the tournament. Chinn shot 72 on Sunday and finished tied for 23rd at 2-over 218 (71-75-72), while freshman Luke Sample was tied for 41st at 7-over 223 (75-70-78). Freshman John Peters was tied for 58th at 11-over 227 (75-78-74).

"We have a great squad with good team energy, and we displayed a lot of that this weekend," said Siebers. "We made a lot of birdies, but definitely have some things to clean up, but overall proud of how we all played. My short game and putting were good this week and I recovered well from some poor tee shots, so a top-10 finish will be good to build on going forward."

Playing individually for the Blue Devils, senior Quinn Riley was tied for 27th at 3-over 219 (69-70-80), while sophomore Cameron Martinez-Piedra was tied for 50th (71-75-79, +9). Sophomore Daniel Uranga was tied for 74th (77-80-78, +19) and graduate student Qi wen Wong was tied for 79th (79-78-83, +24).

Duke, which has top-four finishes in each of its first two events this season, returns to action at the Old Town Club Collegiate in Winston-Salem, N.C., Sept. 27-28.

3rd of 14. Duke (289-280-287=856, -8)
T3. Jimmy Zheng (72-66-69=207, -9)
T8. Ian Siebers (71-69-72=212, -4)
T23. Kelly Chinn (71-75-72=218, +2)
T27. Quinn Riley* (69-70-80=219, +3)
T41. Luke Sample (75-70-78=223, +7)
T50. Cameron Martinez-Piedra* (71-75-79=225, +9)
T58. John Peters (75-78-74=227, +11)
T74. Daniel Uranga* (77-80-78=235, +19)
T79. Qi wen Wong* (79-78-83=240, +24)
*playing as individual

#GoDuke